Which Games Are You Currently Playing?

Recently I see more and more popularity for visual narrative genre. You know, stuff like Journey, maybe. Or Last Guardian. Travel through some mysterious place, grow up as a person, this kind of stuff. Often those don't have a lot (or any) fighting, but present some jumping and logical puzzles. And this is one of those games.

You are a young boy with a tattered red cape. You wake up on a shore of a strange island full of ruins, with huge tower seen in the distance. You don't know how you got here, and you don't know what you must do, but you are led further and further away by a dark figure in red cloak, and by a fox you find and befriend along the way. Eventually you get to the Tower, and get inside of it, but at that point your travels are just starting.

I honestly didn't think much about this game when I started playing it. But it grows on you quickly. The landscapes are pretty damn good, the journey gets progressively more interesting and intense, and the game, while remaining voiceless (which is not true, you can actually yell, but that's about it), makes you feel for the characters.
Gameplay is easy. You run around, jump around, push things around - all kind of stuff you would expect from the puzzle like that. The difference is, what exactly is your goal. You may be trying to chase off a giant bird, change time of day or even create a perfect acoustic system. Your ultimate goal is to climb the tower.... which is actually not true... and the tower is actually not a tower at all, so you will experience a lot of world changes along the way. It's complicated.

Graphic and music are actually pretty good. Graphic is shown well in details - on rainy level it actually feels like the surface of the rocks is flooded. And when you approach some polished doors, you will see pretty believable reflection. Music is nice throughout the game, and at the credits it also shines pretty well.
Of course, the main thing is the story, and it is very well there, trust me. I actually can't tell much, because spoilers, but the twist at the end... Well, I will say I did not expect it, and it immediately changes the whole game perspective.

Your crew is in luck - you landed a really huge job. Alien Fleet, dormant and drifting in space, became the point of interest of some reptiloid businessmen. They want the Cryptark - the flagship of the fleet. But before they can sink their teeth in it, they want you - a band of expendable outlaws on a crappy ship - to deal with 2 problems:
1. Alien Fleet is huge, so you will need to scan the data from several smaller crafts in it to pinpoint the Cryptark location and...
2. While crew is all dead, and fleet is adrift, internal automated cyber-defense systems are still very much online, so you will have to disable all the ship you would try to board.
But then again, that's why you are given the money. Oh, and ammo. A fuckton of ammo.

The idea of a game is easy as fuck. You are a guy in a heavily-armed exo-suit. Crew parks the ship next to some huge alien vessel, and you go to work, flying around in zero gravity, shooting everything that tries to shoot you. Your goal on each ship? Destroy the core system - that will shut down everything and allow your crew to loot the vessel for money and info. However, here's where it gets complicated.
While it's just a 2D twin-stick shooter in its core, the game is rogue-like, with enemy ships generating randomly. And it involves a great deal of planning, because you simply cannot fly up to core and kill it.

First of all, core is likely to be protected by shield system, so you gotta kill that first. Oh, and there's likely to be an alarm. Kill that or attacking the core will trigger rush from all enemies. Oh, btw, there's repair system, which probably repaired the shield while you killed the alarm. Did you kill it? Tough luck, fucker, cause there's a fail-safe system, that now became repair system. Oh, and do you know why you got swarmed while trying to kill that? Because you didn't destroy drone, sentry and leviathan-making systems, so you had to deal with a lot of enemies.

And that's just scratching the surface. Every ship-mission has a set of bonus requirements, and by doing those you make more money, also they have tech cashes, which you can and should loot to get access to random gear in hopes for something better.
Ideally, you destroy all ship systems one by one, grab all the tech and kill the core in time. Usually? Usually you will scramble for the core with almost no health left and most enemy systems still intact, hoping to toughen it up and finish it off before the enemy resistance finishes you. It really is a lot of fun.

Btw, game does have nice graphic and music. And, incredibly, while there's not a lot of exposition, you really get to feel that outlaw space life. Your crew members make commentaries about something or other, and you do get to know them more. Plus, performing specific artifact bonuses allows you to research the history of the alien fleet itself. So, you get to see very small portion of this galaxy, but you get the feeling, that this galaxy is really interesting.

Personally, I greatly enjoyed the game. It is fast, action-packed, and when you are done with the campaign, there's still a rogue mode and hunt for more artifacts, so the game does have replayability and a reason to be replayed.

At times, even Electronic Arts do okay. By publishing something more thoughtful than the usual products. This game is a mix of a platformer and visual narrative story, it is made by some Swedish people, and it actually bigger than it looks at first.

We start out simple. You gain control over a weird red yarn-made doll, and you set out to explore photos in the old house, entering the appropriate memories and locations and just going through them. There's no really epic quest here - you just collect memories, making old family photos appear in the album. That's literally it. And along the way you, without all that much explanation, learn the story of a single family. That's about it, really.

What hides behind a simple premise, however, is an extremely well-crafted game. Starting with mechanics. You are made of string, and while you walk, you leave trail if strings behind you. On checkpoints you get more string, however, you might not have enough to directly reach your destination without some thinking first. So you have to be mindful of your own path, which is something you rarely see as game mechanic. In addition, levels offer you nice variety in puzzle types, some of which you solve by skill and quickles, and some by figuring out the physics.

And also, graphic and music. Music is just extremely damn good. Made specifically for each level, it harmonizes with the intended feeling. And it really creates your mood for the game. And graphic... well, as I said, you control the yarn doll in a game with simply story. How good can graphics be? It's extremely good. Shimmer of the water, snow-covered strings, animals in the background and foreground. Game looks pretty amazing, and there were no cut corners in its making.

All in all, it's a short enough game, with story that may or may not make you feel involved, but the work made for this game is absolutely incredible and deserves respect. Very nice platforming and visual experience.

You have fallen all the way down here, washed down the river, and now stuck in some god-forsaken desert. You really got unlucky there. So, as you going to accept your approaching death, you see a blackwagon - a self-driven wagon, powered by drive-imps that make residence in it. And it comes near you, it stops, and 3 creatures, completely wrapped in matching garments, with full-face masks, disembark and look at you. They briefly argue if they should even help you at all, but then you are asked a question that determines everything... can you read?

What you must know is that this game is from the creators of Bastion and Transistor. But this time it's not an action game. It is, in a very weird way, a sport game. You see, in the world of Downside - which is like a world under a good proper world - everyone is exile, sentenced there forever as a punishment for crimes. However, by becoming team and participating in the rites, which is a sort of a ball game, you are given a chance of freedom at the end of a 'gaming season'. You play the part of reader - one who can read, which is rare, as literacy is outlawed - who can study the ancient books of rites and help the team with training and mental preparation. But, what starts as path to freedom quickly turns to something else, as you find out more and more facts not only about your situation but about the rules of this world itself.

Gameplay is 2-fold. First of all there's the rites and all related to it. The goal is always to get star-ball into the enemy pyre, for various amount of points. Along the way you get more team members, each with different skills, and each team you fight is different, so the proceedings are always varied. Everyone can only control 1 character at a time, out of 3 present on the field. And participating in games levels your team up, giving them more skills. You also can buy some artifacts to help you out. And later there are options to make games more difficult, if you into that sort of thing.
On the other hand, there's the story part, where you travel, interact with your teammates and enemies and generally moving the story forward. And that is the part that matters as much as the games. You see, everything you do matters, and in this game it's serious. Your actions, your choices on who to fight, even your loses (yes, game doesn't even end with any loss, you will get ending at the very end one way or another), all moves the story forward, and I wish to spoil here, but I just can't.

Okay, some technical details. Game actually looks really damn nice, which you can expect from this studio. Since you are both literally and figuratively in a local purgatory, they got really creative with landscapes and local denizens. And not only game looks well, there are myriads little touches. Your blackwagon interior keeps changing as you move along, weather changes as you progress the story, making all look different... I would say, my one problem was that at times, when I was alt-tabbing from the game, it would crash... maybe like 1 every 10 times. But that's not too bad, as the game saved progress literally after everything.
Music is... holy fuck, that music. I mean, there is a minstrel traveling with you, so... You can listen to any game music at any time, but when things get really serious and story-related... well, let's just say, the minstrel and his (spoilers!) gatekeeper counterpart sing for you during the most important games. And at the credits of the game, they sing you song that actually changes depending on how you did in the story. Like, holy fuck, who even does that?!

You know... as I was going through the game, I realized that there's a lot of effort going into the 'perfect' ending. I went to see the forums and I realized quickly, that you have no such thing as absolutely perfect ending. So I went as I went, and in the end, while what I did was not perfect, by any means, I believe, it was at the same time perfect for the game I had. And in the end, the game tells you the story of what happened to the characters. To all characters. To everyone you have ever met in the course of the game. And it all intertwines, and really makes you feel it like your own.

Finally got around to playing this one. Now, let's be perfectly clear here - this is the simple story about a boy and his robot. We have seen this hundreds of times. However, that story is triple-A packaged, and there's a fuckton of absolutely beautiful explosions. Which makes all the difference.

Story is simple. Humanity went to space and, having no enemies to fight, decided to fight each other. Core planets demand stuff from Frontier planets, Frontier planets rebel and organize militia, and Core planets are represented in this war by brutal military corporation. The center role on the battlefield is taken by Pilots - soldiers neurally connected to giant AI-operated robots called Titans. Neural connection to the machine providing the Pilot with enhanced combat vision and tactical capabilities, making him deadly enemy on its own and especially when piloting the Titan itself.
Game starts with our hero being just a simple riflemen, however, you are groomed by one of the Pilots to eventually get the giant robot of your own. That times comes too quickly, though, as your mentor is killed. However, before his death he transfers the Titan link to you, so now it's up to you to continue the mission and, obviously, save the world.

Now the story is pretty standard, but it is filled with memorable characters. There are a lot of cliches there, mine female rebellion leader and bunch of enemy mercenaries, but the center piece of the game is your robot - BT-7274 - and he will be your best friend for the next several hours, providing help, fire support and conversation.
Eventually the story will expand, and you will predictably end it all by stopping a doomsday-type weapon, which is not really even a spoiler. Game feels like an action movie, and that's what always happens in action movies with giant robots anyways. It's not a bad thing, though. I mean, you do not watch action movies for deep story, do you? You watch it for kick-ass characters, great action and memorable scenes. And there is that here.

Okay, gameplay. Gameplay is actually pure love for the FPS game. A lot of time you act on your own as a soldier, and the game provides you with a jump-pack, allowing for double-jumps and wall-runs, and as you grow more accustomed to it, you perform more and more difficult jumping tricks by the end of the game.
But movement is one thing. You are also given guns. Big variety of guns. You can carry only 2 guns at a time, and at time you get additional story-line gadgets, so you always must decide if what you have now is good for current tactical situation, or is it time to switch. There are handguns, SMGs, assault rifles, energy-based machine-guns, rocket-launchers, grenades (oh, yeah, you can carry 1 grenade type at a time), or you can just run up to people and punch the shit out of them.
And of course, you have your trusty robot. Story makes you travel by yourself a lot, but it rewards you with sequences where you fights from the cabin of your Titan. And as the game progresses, you find more weapon loadouts for BT, that you can switch out at will, each with its own main weapon and skills.
All in all, game provides you with huge amount of instruments to kill stuff, and the combat is fast-paced and challenging. I did this game on regular difficulty, and even on that one you really can die at any time if you not careful.

Really, as I wrote at the start - this is simple game at its core, about a guy and his robot, with simple story, simple characters and simple gameplay. But all those parts are done really really well, providing maximum entertainment and adrenaline. So if you enjoy FPS games, giant robots and epic battles - do try this out.

Now i play racing games. Mostly, I prefer to play online games on my PC, which I do not need install. For example, I like to play Mario and Pokemon here www.friv2online.com/ Sometimes it is convy to hang out there after job.

The game I've been playing more and more of recently is one that needs no introduction. I'm not going to try since there are a dozen of online reviews, videos, and so on. Go to the Googles, read the things.

The Game: World of Warcraft.

I never thought I'd ever poke this game with a stick. However, I mentioned wanting to try it out for a bit, my boyfriend used the referral program and bought me the basic game. Four months later, I finally have the Legion expansion, and I'm having fun playing around as a Death Knight.

I'd been skeptical about trying out WoW for over a decade, mostly because I had friends talk about how elitist people were toward them about what color/tier their gear was. I always heard nothing but bad things about the community. But so far the few times I did run into people, I actually had some good interactions. My only complaint has been with people in raids, and those playing the Hunter class who sadly live up to their stereotypes, usually trying to be a hero instead of let the Tank to their thing.

Honestly not what I was expecting but enjoyable. I've always been a fan of historical FPS games and, although the grind is a pain for getting any good weapons, it surpasses my second game in term of enjoyment.

-Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

All in all a solid game overall, though not my favorite in the series (though that in itself says little as I've played limited amounts of CoD though that changes with game number 3). Multiplayer, being a CoD game, is as cutthroat and aggravating as always with teams being unbalanced and no one doing anything but trying to rack up a good k/d ratio (not to mention the prepubescent names adding to the flavor of douche).

-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare:

This game came bundled with the previous one in some 'Legacy Pack' (it was cheaper thanks to Amazon and I need games I am familiar with thanks to not playing an Xbox for years and barely any XBOne ever) and is more enjoyable than Infinite Warfare, so far.

-(Heavily Modded) Fallout 4:

Long story short: Game is garbage without settlement mods added and it is a much better game with them. I added a dozen or more mods improving settlement management, resources, and settler mechanics and the game went from a solid 5 (thanks to a key mechanic of the game being total shit) to a 8 or 9 (I bounce around a lot on ratings).

So, this is an indie game. This is kinda pixel-style graphics game. This is kind of a strategy game. And people who made it were probably using very serious drugs.
Basically, here's the deal. The game is real time strategy, which feels a bit like action type game at times. Your goal is to overpower enemy or, if that is not possible, to wait him out and see him exhaust his resources. But all this is wrapped in absolutely crazy setting. Do you know the premise of Animal Farm? Basically, this is it, but on grander scale. And with cannibalism.

So, at the time of the game, things are already as fucked up as they can be. Animal state is having food problems, as crops are all-time low, for many years now. So as act of desperate survival, all animals turn to eating meat. Yes, fucking all of them. And what meat? Well, animal meat - all animals are eating each other. Oh, and the pigs - everyone eats pigs, can everyone knows pigs are fucking dumb.
System called 'harvest' is in place, run by faction called 'Civilized', who somehow decide who gets eaten. But when they cull a son of a wealthy and influential land-owner, he gathers discontent animals and starts a rebellion against the current system, which quickly grows into 4-sided war.

The gameplay is actually simple. You got the gristmills - places around which you can build farms. You can capture more with food you produce, and you can buy animal burrows, which spawn your units. The trick is that you only control your leader unit - you can rally the troops to your position, you can rally specific type of troops, you can build, you can explore territory... and that's about it.
The idea is simple, but it actually makes for very fast-paced games with split-on-the-moment decisions. Do you build farms first or try to get at least one animal burrow going? Will your enemy find you before you finish fortifications? Can you afford to try and explore? Maps are randomized - with storyline maps retaining some specific story elements - so you can never be sure how exactly things are positioned. Plus, maps may have special rules, which change the game balance completely. Throw 4 enemies into that, and you will have a bloody battle. And the winner will feast.

I guess, I think, big fun part of the game are units. Your farms are tended by the pigs. Yes, upright-walking pigs. They farm. And when enemy approaches, pig will take out a gun and will shoot. It's a sight to see. And that's just a start. Drunken squirrels, tribal lizards, owl, puking zombie-looking mice, machine-gun pigeons, crazed inmate badgers, fox sniper, chameleon thugs and, of course, skunks as masters of chemical warfare. In storyline mode you will first associate some units with specific faction, but that's a mistake - in this world of treachery, even little cute drunk squirrels change sides, so you might see what you considered faction's unique unit switching sides and joining the enemy.

But in the end, what gets you is the story. Between missions you get to explore your faction 'rest area', where you can talk to other animals and check out some items, and honestly... Conversations are actually funny. There's a lot of humor there, in this game. But the whole premise, the whole story of animals eating each other so casually and desperately that they hope their own leaders to die to eat them, the whole spiral of darkness just taking you deeper and deeper into this bone-pit... Honestly, by the end it's get incredibly dark and depressing.

All in all? Extremely atmospheric game, with unique style, which also has some nice gameplay to show for it all. This game is not easy - both in moral terms and in terms of pure gaming difficulty. It does its own twist on real-time strategy genre, and it's being pretty well balanced.

Recommended for all hardcore strategies fans and those who like cute animals committing war crimes.

So yeah, I do enjoy platformers a lot. And it is a very interesting genre, catering to nostalgic feeling of games style and games difficulty. If you know the feeling of finally making that one jump, that you tried for 20 times before, perfectly... No matter what game it is, you know that feeling of satisfaction. But here is the game that went one step further. It not only gives us fast-paced but nostalgic gameplay and old-school difficulty, but it also presents art-style tapping into old animation nostalgia.

So, what's the premise? Not that it matters, but 2 boys with cups instead of heads - Cuphead and Mugman - went to a casino, rolled the dice and totally accidentally lost their souls to the Devil. You know, usual stuff. Now they have to go and beat other people who god devil contract on them, to escape their own punishment. So, with some tips from an old grandpa Kettle, buys set off to their adventure.

And that's pretty much it. Gameplay is very straightforward - you get 3 islands (plus 4th, final area), each full of stages with boss fights on them. Also, all 3 islands have 2 run and gun areas where you perform a sort of an obstacle course while killing smaller enemies. You can get money in the run and gun zones, that you may spend in the shop to buy new passives and more types of shots. Plus there are 3 bonus stages, rewarding you with supers - powers you can unleash when fully charged.
Of course, boss fights are the main treat here, and they are separated in the normal bosses and the ones you beat while flying a plane, in a side-scrolling shooter sequence. Each boss has at least 3 stages, with tactics changing drastically, so you go through this doing the old art of trying the bosses. You die quickly at first, you do boss till you are so familiar with first few stages, you can pass them easily, and then you eventually luck out and beat the final stage.

I have to hand it to the game - controls, which are super important in game like that, are working well and do exactly what you want. Sure, in the heat of battle I would press wrong buttons, but it's on me. All the jumps are smooth, and you never feel you are being punished by bad controls - only by the game's difficulty itself.
Among the passives the most useful one is the one making you invincible during dodge - that is a real life-saver. Weapon types are pretty good in variety. You can beat the game using just the basic weapon - it's simple and deals good damage, but on some bosses you can appreciate specifics of other weapon types.

So okay... let's talk art. I mean, you probably noticed it on the screens. Art is FUCKING INSANE here. It's like you really are experiencing a seamless cartoon sequences animated by one of the olde cartoon creators. Shit, some of the throwbacks are so obvious, I just hope game creators won't get sued by anyone. And with this art style comes the world that lives by cartoon laws, with total lack of boundaries. Let me explain using 1 fight as an example. Your enemy is a giant birdhouse with a vulture in it - it is so bit, it can't get out, just its head and wings are sticking out. After beating that, birdhouse breaks, vulture falls down, and your next enemy is suddenly a small baby vulture, with oversized head, sitting on a bird nest like an alien on some UFO, and when you beat that, suddenly you get 2 sparrows hauling a stretcher with previous giant vulture - who lost all feathers but still itching for a fight - and when you finally beat that, fight ends, sparrows put on chef hats and start salting the vulture. It is fucking insane, and that's just 1 fight, with me leaving out a lot of weird details.
Music pretty much matches that same olde style, and provides jazzy feeling to the whole fighting, getting you in that fast-paced mood. I'd say it stands out on its own too, but here it serves just as support to the art style which is the king of this game.

So, if you like challenging platformers, boss fights and craziness of 30-ties animation - this is the game for you.